BUDAPEST — This Monday, October 23, Hungarians commemorate the anniversary of the 1956 revolution against Soviet rule.

Now a few are planning to start a (peaceful) resistance of their own.

Nearly eight years after Viktor Orbán came to power, some activists have come to believe that breaking the rules is a legitimate way of protesting against the prime minister’s grip on power.

“In the Hungarian legal system there’s no allowance for civil disobedience,” Orbán said in a radio interview in June after several groups, including the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International Hungary, refused to register as foreign-funded NGOs as demanded by a controversial new law.

Civil society movements attempting to organize mass protests and civil disobedience is a relatively new phenomenon in Hungary.

“If someone doesn’t comply with a law, in Hungary there’s a precisely defined procedure for enforcing compliance. So no one will be in for any surprises,” Orbán said.

Activists preparing to engage in acts of civil disobedience have a few surprises in store for the prime minister.

Members of the Common Country Movement, a group established earlier this year to push for electoral reform, have spent months preparing for non-violent civil disobedience.

The details are a closely guarded secret, but the actions are likely to be designed to attract widespread attention. They have drawn inspiration from movements in the region and beyond: In early September, Srđa Popović, the leader of the Otpor student movement that helped depose Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević, was their guest in Budapest. And the movement’s Facebook page features a photo of Martin Luther King Jr.

The group says it will begin civil disobedience actions if the government refuses to consider opposition parties’ proposals to make the electoral system fairer.

The Hungarian government, which is in the midst of a campaign against Hungarian-American financier George Soros, has said that opposition activists are planning public order disruptions during what it predicted would be a “hot autumn,” and that outside forces are attempting to interfere in internal politics.

“We see that there is now an action, in no small part financed by George Soros, where they are threatening civil disobedience after October 23,” Antal Rogán, head of the prime minister’s Cabinet office, told television channel ATV in September.

“Now civil disobedience has many forms, but those people who are … helping as outside advisers and actors are not unknown to the Hungarian government, and have already done this in Macedonia and Serbia, and everywhere it ends up in rough street disturbances,” he said.

Some people close to the government said it does not fear civil disobedience. The tough talk was “mostly rhetorical,” said a senior official from Orbán’s Fidesz party, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A spokesman for the Hungarian government did not respond to a request for comment.

Activists, meanwhile, like to point out that Orbán himself spoke of civil disobedience when he was in opposition. In 2007, Fidesz dismantled a police cordon near the Hungarian parliament, with Orbán’s website declaring that “Fidesz members of both the Hungarian and the European Parliament resorted to civil disobedience.”

Keep focused, no videos

On a recent evening in central Budapest, about 30 activists from the Common Country Movement crowded into a small living room in a nondescript apartment. The walls were empty except for a piece of paper with handwritten “rules” written on it: keep focused, listen to others, no violence, no photos or videos.

“Some called us communists and Soros agents,” one young man, who acts as a coordinator for the movement in Budapest, told the group when asked to report on efforts to recruit supporters. Others, he noted, were interested in what the activists had to say.

The movement’s founder and leader, 31-year old Márton Gulyás, is a household name in the capital. To his mostly young, left-wing followers he is an icon of resistance. Known to his supporters as Marci, his arrest this spring for allegedly breaching the peace and committing acts of vandalism — he threw paint at the presidential palace — sparked a protest with hundreds chanting “Marci out, Orbán in” outside a building where he was believed to be held.

To his detractors, however, Gulyás is a hooligan. Last month, following a meeting of the parliament’s national security committee, Fidesz MP Szilárd Németh said Gulyás was a “threat” to national security.

“We can appreciate political humor but not when it comes to real work,” Gergely Gulyás (no relation to Márton), head of the Fidesz faction in the parliament, told POLITICO when asked if he would consider changes to the electoral system as requested by the Common Country Movement.

“There’s a need for educating society. And in this societal education, every single movement, every single civil initiative, every single private initiative, helps” — Árpád Schilling, anti-Orbán activist

Hungarians have little experience with civil disobedience.

“Since 1956 there has been no real serious mobilization, with the exception of a taxi strike,” said Árpád Schilling, a theater director and prominent activist who was also designated as a threat to national security alongside Gulyás.

“That’s why Orbán’s deterrence propaganda is so effective … people are already skeptical with regards to these things. At the minimum they say it doesn’t matter, it will have no impact. But they are also capable of saying those going out [and protesting] are disorderly, so why demonstrate,” said Schilling.

Nevertheless, Schilling said that groups such as Common Country can help change this dynamic over time.

“There’s a need for educating society,” he said. “And in this societal education, every single movement, every single civil initiative, every single private initiative, helps.”

Others say that activist groups’ actions are counterproductive and unlikely to draw significant public support.

“This movement is the result of the opposition parties’ inability to provide a clear and popular alternative to the Fidesz government,” said Csaba Tóth, director of strategy at the Budapest-based Republikon Institute, a think tank.

Since 1956, there has been no serious organized protests in Hungary — until now | Zoltan Balogh/EPA

“People who genuinely want to do something against the system become trapped in an unrealistic, unimaginative idea which has neither broad support nor any chance of reaching any result … It diverts energies on the opposition side from filing candidates and preparing for elections, it hurts the chances of any change in Hungary,” he said.

But the Common Country leadership say that by trying to bring together opposition parties and activists, they can create momentum for change. A rally planned for October 23 was cancelled due to dangerous weather conditions, but the leadership remains upbeat, emphasizing in an online note Sunday that it will keep the public informed about how the movement’s “work for change and justice” will continue in 2018.

“The decisive majority of Hungarian society wants change,” Gulyás told supporters in a video message last week. “If the current regime continues to stand in the way of justice, and doesn’t help with change, we can’t just put our hands up and give in.”

11 years ago, PM Gyurcsany ordered the police force in Hungary to shoot rubber bullets at demonstrators against its tyrannical regime. Even peaceful passers-by were shot at, kicked, etc. The police force was ordered to remove their identity tags before the attack. I hope, “Marci” and their Soros friends will get more than a kiss.

Posted on 10/23/17 | 6:56 AM CEST

nick

This is Communist propaganda. Orban says NO to the GENOCIDE of his people, through so called “diversity”. Diversity is objectively EUROPEAN GENOCIDE. GENOCIDE IS A WAR CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY.
The people who wrote this rubish have a disgusting hatred, towards White people.

Posted on 10/23/17 | 7:20 AM CEST

g

Liberal does not learn.
Brexin
USA
Germany
Austria
Czech Republic
Many years of persistent PC dictatorship have resulted in people becoming exhausted from Lili Bayer.
:-)))

Posted on 10/23/17 | 8:03 AM CEST

glasspix 1

The 18bn recently donated by Soros to his Open Society Fund is starting to slowly trickle down to Politico’s pages.
In other news, another peaceful day starting in Hungary, when people are celebrating the anniversary of the 1956 uprising against foreign communist tyranny. They will gather at public squares to remember without the fear of anyone driving lorries through them, blowing them up, or putting their hands underneath their skirts. Only a few irritating left-wing activist are disrupting the festivities with silly placards and whistling, which the decent people of Hungary ignore with a gentle smile.

Posted on 10/23/17 | 8:12 AM CEST

g

Soros civilians – NGOs – are the 5 columns of the world

Posted on 10/23/17 | 8:13 AM CEST

g

Lili Bayer has to attack Orbán at the National Day. Instead of the memories of 1956, he decays to a liberal mode. That’s why they pay. He is working on Orbán’s 2/3 election victory.
Thank you.
🙂

Posted on 10/23/17 | 8:36 AM CEST

partikislajoska

It will take hundreds of Lili Bayers or so-called philantropists to make the majority of Hungarians to stomach this Gulyás bloke, who seems to be a low IQ tapeworm, at his best. .

Posted on 10/23/17 | 9:04 AM CEST

Alexandre

It is really annoying how liberal left continues to undermine democratic choice which didn’t go their way.
Fortunately with advent of new communication tools the traditional media quickly loose their influence and ability to skew public opinion. If they do not stand up to the challenge they will go the way of Nepszabadsag.

Posted on 10/23/17 | 10:33 AM CEST

Zan14

“Since 1956 there has been no real serious mobilization, with the exception of a taxi strike,” said Árpád Schilling
What a nonsense. There were millions took the streets in Budapest from 2006-2010 several times and swept away the soc-lib government that Lili wants back so badly
These trouble makers are a laughing stock in Hungary; a handful of Soros paid political trolls with no charisma whatsoever. The leftist opposition has collapsed in Hungary because of their own huge mistakes and total lack of talent which created a political vacuum so a few useless libtard trolls could move in
BTW this Soros’s “civil society movement” called off their gathering today due to lack of interest. They blamed the rain (!) while Orban and his crowd will be on the streets in full force
Lili, you are really pathetic in giving these clowns such coverage; it’s clear that you are not a journalist but a paid agent of Soros & co. This article is also showing Soros’s/Politico’s desperation after the Austrian and the Czech election results

Posted on 10/23/17 | 11:11 AM CEST

Dstandard

When you realise that the demonstration is canceled due to lack of opposition parties participation but in the media they say it’s because of bad weather… Hahahaha.. Btw Gulyás was caught on an lgbt dating site recently, when the media published it he sued them and he won. When an opposition member(Klara Unglar) called one of the Fidesz mayor(Marton Kocsis) “gay” (he is living with his wife and 2 kids) and he sued the person, the court said its okay to say “gay” to a public figure. So long story short: you can’t call someone gay who is looking for sex partner on an lgbt site, but you can call gay someone who’s living with his wife and 2 kids because he’s a public figure. The best part is when they say the court is independent.

Posted on 10/23/17 | 12:19 PM CEST

Vishnou

@Observer: you are messing up everything. Spain is a democratic state which respects the rule of law, solidarity and EU values. Orban is not: he vomits everything. Are you blind or simply pretending to be?

Posted on 10/23/17 | 1:58 PM CEST

Vishnou

Keep fighting!!!! 🙂

Posted on 10/23/17 | 2:00 PM CEST

BP

“the decisive majority of Hungarian society wants change.” First of all, barely a majority wants change and he forgets that half of those want Gulyás Márton and his mates out of the country. They don’t have the monopoly in the media, culture and economy anymore.
They will never gonna be able to win a democratic contest in Hungary ever again. Therefore they’re desprate. They dreaming about some kind of a revolution… but with whom? They’re a marginal minority. They’re wether old or weak.

Posted on 10/23/17 | 3:42 PM CEST

Emanuele

“There’s a need for educating society,” so some Arpad Shilling, theatrical director, said about the Hungarians who, being obviously stupid and uneducated, stubbornly vote for Orban.

How unbearable these presumptuous, arrogant, elitist attitudes are!

Next year is the fiftieth anniversary of French ’68, but obviously there is still someone who has not realized that half a century has since passed away.

“Everything changes in the world except the avant-garde,” said J.L. Barroult, another theatrical director, perhaps a bit more acute than Mr. Shilling

Posted on 10/23/17 | 4:57 PM CEST

guilherme

Organised by leftist liberal intellectuals this “work for change and justice” is a show for very restricted audience – mostly for themselves. “Civil disobedience” works when it has real support of the population. The percentual support of the fragmented opposition parties is about or slightly surpass 10% of each. It is interesting that they are lookig for a cooperation with the “extrem right” Jobbik.

Posted on 10/23/17 | 4:58 PM CEST

skalpel

Silly journalist! These photos are not made now, but in March. You’re a hateful woman.

Posted on 10/23/17 | 5:11 PM CEST

Joe

Excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but Serbian activists who deposed Milosevic have been linked to Soros and were credited for also fomenting color revolutions. This in effect negates the argument that Hungary’s campaign against Soros is in fact not justified, because Soros is in fact interfering and this is the proof. Based on reports that he just transferred $18 billion to his political agitation orgs, I’d say they are getting ready to interfere a lot, as reported in this article. So thank you very much, even if this was not the intended objective of the article. If there is one flaw in this whole globalist movement, it surely is the assumption that we are not bright enough to see through it all.

Posted on 10/23/17 | 5:15 PM CEST

StopThisNonsense

I find it pretty astonishing how some commentators manage to make EVERY SINGLE TOPIC about immigration. From a political science point of view, the Hungarian political system is slithering towards a semi-democratic, semi-rule-of-law situation, at best. Kindly remember that the unrestricted rule of the majority vote is indeed NOT democratic, but, as Aristotle put it, “Ochlocracy”, or mob rule. In a truly democratic political system, different interests are balanced as much as possible against one another, favoring the preference of the majority to an extend relative to their overall share in public opinion and only to an extend still bearable by the minority. If we adhered to the very simplistic understanding of democracy simply being what the majority, be it ever so slim, wants, the Holocaust (as long as it would have been confined to the German territory) would have been a perfectly legitimate exercise, as it was performed by a democratically elected government and supported by a majority of German citizens. The point I am trying to make is: Criticism regarding Orban and his party is about their exceedingly autocratic style of government. The refugee question has, a priori, little to do with this. (He is, after all, trying pretty hard to silence any opposition- if this opposition is so feeble, why bother hampering it? Legislation like the educational or legal reform essentially proof tat he IS afraid of being challenged in his style of governing, otherwise he would not need to make such a fuss.) I, for instance, would also prefer if Europe were better able to manege the influx of people from certain parts of the world, yet I do not see why in order to archive this I should have to give up on rule of law, pluralist interest representation, a well function civil society and respect for diverse political opinions. And by the way: My past experiences in Hungary entailed just as much physical sexual assault as I am used to in my “refugee flooded” current country of residence…

Manó Mijó

g

Lili, how many were anti-Orban protesters today, 14 ???
So lies politically correct media. They would lie at least smartly.
Liberal does not learn.
:-))))

Posted on 10/23/17 | 5:45 PM CEST

g

@Mano Mijo
How can it be so unfaithful to put a lie in a single article? Although I look at the identity of the author, you do not have to be surprised. I hope you come after you, you little Rob!
Ezért fizetik , csak a színvonal alacsony.
That’s why they pay only low standards.
:-)))

Posted on 10/23/17 | 5:48 PM CEST

g

@StopThisNonsense
In Usa, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and V4, it has been able to stop this nonsense liberal inattention.
:-))

Ranger

Tony

Don’t be nasty with Lili Bayer. She has a stretching monthly target for writing anti-Orbán articles and she is working hard for her money. I’m sure that uncle Soros appreciates her efforts.

Posted on 10/23/17 | 9:29 PM CEST

Tony

“Members of the Common Country Movement, a group established earlier this year to push for electoral reform, have spent months preparing for non-violent civil disobedience.
…They have drawn inspiration from movements in the region and beyond…”

I sincerely hope that they are not drawing their inspiration from Femen because seeing Márton Gulyás and his followers naked, running amok in the streets of Budapest would be a truly disgraceful act.

Johann M. Wolff

@StopThisNonsense

“Kindly remember that the unrestricted rule of the majority vote is indeed NOT democratic,”

Kindly look up in a dictionary what “democracy” means: literally “rule of the people”. The constitution “basic law”, is the base of the social contract between a group of people which can be changed by the majority in any way. The absurdity what you are advocating is not democracy but a “wise ruler” who shows the way meanwhile the subjects can decide on insignificant matters.
That’s why Brussels is so popular…..

And that you are mentioning Auschwitz, yes, democracy is not necesarrly good, depends how wise the are people exercising it.

Posted on 10/24/17 | 1:10 PM CEST

Johann M. Wolff

@Politico

Would it be possible to also have another person reporting on Hungary, so we would get news from an additional angle instead solely from the left ? Your reports on Germany and France also come from conservative and liberal point of views. I would like to see something similar here. Reading the news on Hungary, slowly I’m under the impression that I’m reading the TAZ.

Posted on 10/24/17 | 1:15 PM CEST

ac

@Vishnou
You are very entertaining I admit !
So much ‘messing up everything’ or sheer propganada: “Spain is a democratic state which respects the rule of law, solidarity and EU values. Orban is not: he vomits everything.”

So if Orban put opposition leaders to prison, fined others with draconian financial fines and sent police to beat innocent, peaceful citizens exactly like Spanish government does – then you would call him ‘respecting the rule of law, solidarity and EU values’ ?!?
While he is not doing any of that.

Posted on 10/24/17 | 2:44 PM CEST

JustWords

@StopThisNonsense
Amen to that, brother. I still don’t understand, how people with access to free media from around the globe, can tolerate Orban’s autocratic tendencies. Maybe he is doing something good, that only Hungarians can understand and is not visible from outside ? And let’s not forget, Soros is a scapegoat all around the world !

Posted on 10/24/17 | 3:31 PM CEST

TAK

You wrote below the photo:
“Since 1956, there has been no serious organized protests in Hungary — until now | Zoltan Balogh/EPA”

If you compared anti-Communist uprising against Soviet occupation with thousands of killed and prisoned people and normal, typical street protests of citizens (which may happen in each European country) it means that you don’t understand history and presence, that don’t show respect to people who fought for their freedom in Budapest 61 years ago and that you try to manipulate the readers.
Best regards from Poland, our Hungarian brothers!